It's been awhile since I've shared a DIY project and it's not that I haven't been doing any, I just haven't had a minute to type them up. Time to fix that.

Not long ago I was debating selling my sewing machine because I hadn't used it much and I can't stand having useless stuff sitting around the house. Serial convinced me to take it out and try it again to make sure I was absolutely sure I was ready to give it up. Smart man.

Sure enough, I took it out and sewed a couple of basic things and I remembered why I loved having it. Rooney wasn't sure what was going on, but soon enough he made peace with the weird new machine. He did stay pretty close to me though - he's funny & protective like that.

One of the first projects I tackled was making simple pillows for our couch and our bed. Our bedroom is various shades of grey (insert some lame joke about 50 shades...) so we need to find ways to incorporate color. Pillows seemed like an easy choice.

So off I went to JoAnn fabrics, armed with my coupons (if you don't subscribe by email, you're really missing out - they have mad discounts!). I found an awesome, bright orange pattern that Serial actually liked and picked up a couple of pillow forms that were on sale.

I also had some leftover fabric from a long time ago that I decided to use for the couch pillows. (Truth be told, the pillows were always in the way on the couch and Rooney wasn't having it. So we ended up using them as chair cushions instead.)

But enough about us, let's get to the tutorial. My pillow forms were 22"x22" for our bedroom and 16"x16" for the chair cushions. You can get them at any craft store or comb through a thrift store for ugly ones that you might want to cover up (after you wash them, of course).

I'll use the larger pillow as my example. I ironed and laid out my fabric, doubled up so I was cutting both sides of the pillow at once. I cut a square that was 24"x24" and sewed two sides closed. The fabric should be laid out so that the pattern is on the inside.

The I put the pillow in and made sure that it fit correctly. Once it was in, I used a few pins to mark the correct place to sew the remaining two sides.

I closed the third side completely then closed about 2 inches on each end of the 4th side, so that I would have room to put the pillow in. Turn the pillow case inside out so that the pattern is now on the outside.

Once the pillow is in, I used an iron to fold over the seams on the open part of the pillow case. It's not necessary, but it does make it easier when you stitch it closed.

The final step is to use a blind stitch to close the remaining open part of the pillow case. The general idea of it is to place the two sides together and run the thread through only the inner pieces of fabric so that you don't see the thread on the outside. This video shows a good demonstration.

And that's it. Easy, right? I cranked out a couple of pillows in an hour and it made all the difference in our room. Here's the before and after - gotta love an accent color. (The huge and luxurious blanket is handmade by my mom. She rocks. )

And here's the pillows that were intended for the couch, but ended up being chair cushions. I just love the simple pattern and the fact that the front and back are coordinated, but don't match. The pictures below are the two sides of two pillows (it's not 4 pillows). Let's pretend their ironed, ok?

That's the basic idea, but you can easily customize your pillows to be any size or any pattern. Endless possibilities. Break out that sewing machine and have at it.

If you like what you read, I would love to hear from you in the comments section! It's fun to get feedback and it helps me create future posts. And be sure to stay in touch on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or RSS!

Hey! Not in these pillows, but I've put them in other ones. Instead of blind stitching them closed, you can just stitch in a zipper in the color that best matches. Sew it on the inner part, the part that you folded over and ironed down, so you only see the zipper and not the side parts.

You're going to have fun with the sewing machine! I got a little Pinterest crazy with patterns for little clutches and sling bags. I'm going to try those next.

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Update! Life has become busy in a great way, so we don't have a lot of time for blogging these days. We've left the site up as a reference, and we do check our blog emails whenever we can, but we are no longer actively posting or commenting. Thanks for understanding and have a wonderful day!

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I'm a Chicago girl who loves the outdoors and everything DIY. He's an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker and addicted to nature. Follow us as we share our experiences with home projects, recipes and hiking with our energetic Weimaraner, Rooney.